Water Utilities Workers Sue County Over Wages

January 18, 1986|By Bob Kowalski, Staff Writer

A group of almost three dozen workers in Palm Beach County`s Water Utilities Department filed a federal lawsuit Friday asking the county to pay them regular wages for hundreds of hours they were required to remain at home on call for potential emergencies.

In that suit, which could cost the county as much as $2 million if it succeeds, the workers claim the county hasn`t met the requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

``They haven`t complied with the law,`` said Dana Schofield, an electrician in the department who circulated a petition among his fellow workers calling for the lawsuit.

Schofield and other workers in the department were required to be on call after work for one week out of three under a policy the county had in effect until October of last year.

During that week, the workers were required to stay at home from 4 p.m. when they got off work until 7 a.m. when they returned, and 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday.

For those hours on standby, the workers were paid 5 percent of the lowest wage in their job classification times eight hours a day, said Larry Lunder, manager of classification and pay for the county`s Personnel Department.

That formula was equivalent to two hours` pay per day, Schofield said.

Lunder said the workers were kept on call to handle any breakdowns that might occur in county water and sewer treatment facilities.

``In utilities, if something goes wrong, if there`s a pipe flowing and there (is) sewage pouring on the ground, you have to be there in 10 minutes,`` he said.

But in February 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court decided local governments had to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act, and that meant paying full wages to employees who were restricted in their movements while on call, said David Gunter, the Palm Beach attorney who filed the suit for the workers Friday.

In October the county changed its policy, eliminating the requirement that certain Water Utilities Department employees be on call after work, and adding a second shift to handle emergencies that might occur between 4 p.m. and midnight.

But as a result of the Supreme Court decision, the county should have to pay full wages to the Water Utilities Department employees for every hour they were on call before the policy changed, Gunter said.

``That`s what the law entitles them to,`` he said. ``In most of these instances, that will all be overtime pay. They`ve never compensated them for the time they were on call.``

Schofield agreed that he should be paid full wages for the hours he was kept on standby at home, saying the requirement kept him from taking training that could have led to a promotion.

``I could not take electronics courses at night because I was on standby,`` he said. ``You weren`t allowed to leave the house.``